Broke Guy Day Care: It’s a cheap time out!

For the past year, I’ve been wanting to take my son to his first professional sporting event. It’s kind of a tricky situation, considering that he’s a 2 1/2-year-old with a short attention span, and I’m the type of obsessed basketball and football fan that taunts people who walk out to the parking lot when there are 14 seconds left on the clock. (“There’s still a lot of game left!”)

Liz Hafalia/Chronicle

I might have taken him to a Giants game this season, considering the ballpark is one big playground any way, but I had a revelation a couple of years ago and decided to avoid giving that organization my money until Bonds is off the team. We came very close to hopping on a bus for a 49ers pre-season game against Denver two months ago — figuring we could easily leave in the third quarter, when some 12th stringer from a Division III college was playing quarterback. (Actually, the team could use that guy right about now.)

I’m glad I waited, because the perfect situation came up this Sunday. The Golden State Warriors held an open practice from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., which followed the Broke Guy Day Care ethos to the letter. Admission was free. Parking was free. Even the panhandlers who hang out near the walkway to the Coliseum BART station seemed to have taken the night off.

It was especially great, because of all the sports we watch, my son seems to have the most interest in basketball. He’s been bombarded with basketball-related gear from a young age and we bonded a little during the Warriors’ amazing playoff run. I could also use the opportunity to explain my Man Crush on Matt Barnes, and why it’s perfectly normal for a heterosexual guy to develop a non-sexual attraction to another dude. (So many lessons to teach this boy …)

Everything about the afternoon was awesome. The Warriors ran a few drills and then had a short scrimmage between the veteran players and some of the new ones — with coach Don Nelson hooked up with a microphone to give running commentary. My son had never been in a building that big, and was content to people watch for the first 15 minutes. We took a trip to buy him a pretzel and later to get him a Baron Davis jersey, and both times he asked to go back and watch the game instead of returning home.

Excuse the “Blair Witch”-quality camera phone photo.

Since everything was free, I was expecting to get the time share treatment, with 10 minutes of ticket sales propaganda for every 20 minutes of basketball. But other than a few guys passing out flyers, it was a soft sell. (I suppose the tickets sell themselves when your team doesn’t suck any more.) There were also an especially large number of children, making the whole vibe much more kid-friendly than a game where people are actually paying attention to the score.

He was a bit fidgety, and I think he’s still a year away from sitting through a game to the point where we both enjoy ourselves the entire time. But I’ll definitely look for other teams holding open practices as sort of a training wheels until we start going to games for real.

I know the 49ers have some open practices. Raiders/Sharks/As/Giants fans — have you seen those teams or any of the larger local college programs doing kid-friendly things like this?